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APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

VOLUME 26 NO. 16

BUY SOMETHING – NOW That was the message from a Starbucks store to two Black men before they were arrested. Now the global brand has a major problem to fix. COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

JESSICA GRIFFIN/PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER/TNS

On Monday, protester Aurica Hurst poured out coffee in front of the Philadelphia Starbucks where two Black men were arrested last week.

A lot to consider Voters to mull 13 proposed amendments BY LLOYD DUNKELBERGER NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

pilation, which was posted on the department’s YouTube page, a female caller dialed 911 at 4:37 p.m. and calmly spoke to a 911 operator. “Hi, I have two gentlemen in my cafe who are refusing to make a purchase or leave,” the woman said. The operator, also a woman, said she would send police to the store at 18th and Spruce streets, and the call ended.

A ‘group’

PHILADELPHIA – The 911 call that sparked international outrage over the arrests of two Black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks last Thursday lasted around 20 seconds, according to audio of the call and subsequent police radio chatter released Tuesday by Philadelphia Police. Officials in “The City of Brotherly Love” said police officers were told the men had asked to use the store’s restroom but were denied because they hadn’t bought anything and they refused to leave. According to the audio com-

Three minutes later, a male radio dispatcher said a “group of males” was “refusing to leave” the store, according to the audio compilation. About four minutes after that, another man said over the radio that a “group of males” was “causing a disturbance” and he called for backup and a supervisor. The final radio call was made at 5 p.m., with an officer reporting the arrests of the two men. The audio recordings provide the first accounting of how police officers were summoned to See STARBUCKS, Page A2

THE FIRST RAPPER

Lamar makes history with Pulitzer Prize win

TALLAHASSEE – The state Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years, finished its work Monday night after approving eight more proposed constitutional amendments for the Nov. 6 generalelection ballot. Those eight proposals will join five other measures already on the ballot, including three approved by the Legislature and two approved in petition drives, to bring the total to 13.

Higher legislative threshold? The constitutional revisions proposed by the Legislature include an expansion of the homestead property-tax exemption and a requirement for two-thirds votes by future legislatures when raising taxes or fees. The petition-drive measures would allow voters to decide on future expansions of casino gambling and would restore voting rights to felons who have served their sentences. The 13 measures on the November ballot will be the most voters have faced since 1998, the last time the Constitution Revision Commission met and put nine amendments on the ballot. Voters approved eight of See VOTERS Page A2

SNAPSHOTS FLORIDA | A3

Dog racing ban on 2018 ballot NATION | A6

Cops usually fired after shooting BOOK REVIEW | B2

Essays focus on democracy in age of Trump TRAVEL | B3

Cuba trips getting popular again

ALSO INSIDE

BRIAN VAN DER BRUG / LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Rapper Kendrick Lamar, known as “Kung Fu Kenny” in his younger days, was awarded the Pulitzer Award for Music on Monday for his work on his 2017 album, “Damn.” The Pulitzer is considered mainstream American music’s most esteemed award.

Miami sues drug makers over opioid epidemic FROM THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

MIAMI – In 2016, the city of Miami saw 641 opioid-related overdoses, a 20-percent increase from the year before. Now, attorneys for the city have filed a lawsuit in Miami-Dade County circuit court alleging that drug manufacturers violated Florida law by aggressively and deceptively marketing opioids as safe. The 134-page suit filed Monday alleges

that the drug-manufacturing industry worked to cultivate a narrative “that pain was undertreated,” which paved the way for increased prescribing of opioids for chronic pain. Attorneys are requesting an unspecified amount of damages and are seeking “disgorgement” of “unjust enrichment benefits and ill-gotten gains plus interest.” The suit said the widespread use of opioids has caused an increase in emergency-room visits, emergency responses and emergency medical technicians’ administration of naloxone – an antidote to opioid overdose.

Serious increase The Miami Department of Fire-Rescue responded to 1,717 opioid-related calls involving the use of naloxone in 2016, up

from 668 calls in 2015. The suit also alleges the city experienced increased costs in its employee health-care benefit plan and in its workers’ compensation insurance policy as a result of the opioid epidemic. The suit names as defendants the drug companies Purdue, Teva, Jansen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Insys Therapeutics, Mallinckrodt, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp. Walgreens is also as a named defendant for its distribution role. Miami is the latest Florida municipality to file suit against drug manufacturers. Meanwhile, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that she was vetting law firms and that the state will file a lawsuit against drug companies, as opposed to joining a federal lawsuit that is before U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Ohio.

GUEST COMMENTARY: MORGAN HUMPHREY: GUN DEBATE MUST INCLUDE POLICE MILITARIZATION | A4 COMMENTARY: CLARENCE V. MCKEE: NAACP ABANDONS BLACKS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS | A5

FOCUS

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

In 2018, are they terrorists or rebels? It is not unusual for a United States president to launch bombs at a foreign country to distract American citizens from inappropriate, improper and ill-advised misconduct in the White House. Recently, American strikes hit selected locations in the sovereign country of Syria. The bombings were allegedly made in retaliation for the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons on socalled Syrian “rebels” that are supported by the United States with American tax dollars, American weaponry and American soldiers that have been deployed to Syria and placed in harm’s way.

He told America Syrian President Bashar alAssad has said from the beginning of the current conflict in his country that the people attacking, shooting at and trying to kill Syrian soldiers were terrorists, not rebels. And the United States has even

Sarin is an easily-made chemical that many, many people know how to compose. Chlorine is a chemical available for anybody and everybody to purchase and obtain – even you.

Where are the facts? LUCIUS GANTT THE GANTT REPORT

said that their presence in Syria was to combat ISIS and other terrorist groups and not to battle or fight the Syrian government. Well, if you want to learn about things that cause illegal and undesirable military actions in the Middle East, history is the best teacher. If warmongers, defense contractors and proponents of a New World Order lied about Iraqi “weapons of mass destruction,” could it be possible that lies are being told about Syria’s use of chemical weapons? I don’t doubt that chemicals may have been used in Syrian confrontations. But where did the chemicals come from?

However, at the time of the bombings or afterwards, no one knew exactly what (if any) chemicals were used or how the chemicals were used or targeted. No independent or third-party analysis of the areas allegedly affected was done and completed. The United States says it is aware that some kind of chemical was used in the alleged attack in the Syrian city of Douma, but is not sure at present what kind of substance it was, according to a recent State Department press briefing. Hmmm? You don’t know if an alleged attack was truly made? You don’t know what chemicals were used in the alleged attack? And you want to deploy airplanes, ships and submarines to launch bombs paid for with American taxpayer dollars to send a legitimate foreign leader that the president hates a “message?”

A reputable source If you are interested in what allies are saying about Western nations’ bombing of Syria, check with Al Jazeera, a Muslim media source. Here’s what it reported: Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, that further strikes by Western allies in Syria will inevitably lead to chaos in international relations. In a phone conversation on Sunday, the two leaders weighed in on the situation in Syria after the United States, France and Britain launched coordinated strikes on Syria’s alleged chemical facilities, Russian news agency RIA cited the Kremlin. The leaders stated that “this illegal action seriously damages the prospects for a political settlement in Syria,” RIA quoted Kremlin’s press service as saying.

No coincidence Looking at the whole picture, as The Gantt Report so often does, it does not seem to be a coincidence that bombings were quickly orchestrated to distract from raids on the home, office and hotel room of Donald Trump’s personal

attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen knows about cat cash payments, laundered money, bank fraud, Russian conspiracy and much more. Will Cohen testify in court and sing like Otis Redding, or will he buck dance for the president like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson? Will he decide to cooperate with prosecutors and be there for his wife and family, or will he be loyal to the liar-in-chief and go to prison for 30 or 40 years?

Don’t get distracted Is what’s happening in The White House “Mission Accomplished” or “Mission Mismanaged”? And don’t let government misconduct take your minds off of what students and teachers are doing. Young people deserve our support!

Buy Gantt’s latest book, “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere. “Like” The Gantt Report page on Facebook. Contact Lucius at www. allworldconsultants.net.

VOTERS from A1 the nine amendments as well as four constitutional changes sought by the Legislature. In 1978, the commission advanced eight ballot proposals, which all were rejected by voters, along with a citizens’ initiative on casino gambling.

Higher voter threshold This year will be the first time that ballot measures from the commission will have to be approved by at least 60 percent of voters. Florida increased the margin for approval of constitutional amendments from a majority vote to 60 percent in 2006. In the past two decades, over the course of 11 general elections, the average number of constitutional amendments on the ballot has been more than seven, ranging from a low of three measures in 2014 to the high of 13 proposals in 1998 and this year. It is typical for some measures to fail, although in 2004 and 2006 voters approved all 14 amendments on the ballot in those two years. But in 2012, when voters faced 11 amendments, all passed by the Legislature, they rejected eight of the measures.

Multiple subjects One of the more-controversial aspects of this year’s commission proposals is that six of the eight measures bundle together multiple subjects. As an example, what will appear on the ballot as Amendment 9 combines a proposed ban on offshore oil drilling with a proposed ban on vaping in the workplace. Two of the proposed constitutional amendments are limited to single subjects, including one measure that would ban greyhound racing in the state. In total, the eight ballot measures group 20 proposals that were debated and advanced by the commission. Brecht Heuchan, chairman of the panel’s Style and Drafting Committee, which put together the final proposals considered by the commission Monday, defended the use of grouping, noting it was done by the two prior commissions in 1998 and 1978.

‘Hard work’ Commission Chairman Carlos Beruff said he was pleased with the outcome of the work.

STARBUCKS from A1 the Starbucks and communicated with dispatchers before arresting the two men. The incident was captured on video and shared on social media, which prompted an avalanche of backlash against Philly’s cops and the coffee chain.

Quietly arrested Video shows several officers talking quietly with two Black men seated at a table, their backs against a brick wall, while jazz plays over the coffee shop’s speakers. After a few minutes, officers handcuff the men and lead them outside without a struggle as other customers say they weren’t doing anything wrong. A White man identified as real estate developer Andrew Yaffe arrives and tells the officers the two men were waiting for him. An officer says the men were not complying and were being arrested for trespassing. “Why would they be asked to leave?” Yaffe says. “Does anybody else think this is ridiculous? It’s absolute discrimination.”

FLORIDA COURIER FILES

Florida voters will get a chance to decide on a total of 13 proposed constitutional amendments in November. “From protecting our state and territorial waters from oil drilling to strengthening our ethics laws, I commend my fellow commissioners for their hard work and leadership representing the people of Florida,” Beruff said in a statement. “We are grateful to the thousands of Floridians who participated in this historic process and look forward to letting voters have the final say in November.” Here are the eight commission measures approved this week that are headed to the November ballot, with the ballot numbers: • VICTIMS’ RIGHTS AND JUDGES (Amendment 6): It would establish a series of rights for crime victims, including the right to be notified of major developments in criminal cases and the right to be heard in legal proceedings. It would increase the mandatory retirement age for judges from 70 to 75. It would provide that judges or hearing officers should not necessarily defer to the interpretation of laws and rules by governmental agencies in legal proceedings. • FIRST RESPONDERS AND HIGHER EDUCATION: (Amendment 7): It would require the payment of death benefits when law enforcement officers, paramed-

A woman can be heard in the video saying, “they didn’t do anything, I saw the entire thing.”

Immediate reaction Melissa DePino, a novelist whose tweet and video of the arrest had garnered more than 10 million views, wrote, “All the other White ppl are wondering why it’s never happened to us when we do the same thing.” Videos of the arrests garnered widespread attention over the weekend and the hashtag #BoycottStarbucks trended on Twitter. On Monday, protestors filled the store for a second day holding signs and chanting slogans including, “A whole lot of racism, a whole lot of crap, Starbucks coffee is anti-Black,” and calling for the store manager to be fired. The store was closed after the protests Monday, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The arrests have prompted people to share other examples of what they describe as inequitable treatment of Starbucks customers, including a video showing a Black man being denied use of a bathroom because he had not yet made a purchase, even after a White man was granted access under similar circumstances.

ics, correctional officers and other first responders are killed while performing official duties. It also would apply to Florida National Guard and active-duty military members stationed in Florida. It would establish a governance system for the 28 state and community colleges. It would require a supermajority vote by university boards of trustees and the Board of Governors when raising student fees. • PUBLIC SCHOOLS (Amendment 8): It would impose an eight-year term limit on school board members. It would allow an alternative process for approving public schools, including charter schools, rather than by local school boards. It would establish a requirement for the teaching of civic literacy in public schools. • OIL DRILLING AND VAPING (Amendment 9): It would prohibit drilling for gas and oil in state coastal waters and ban vaping and the use of electronic cigarettes in workplaces. • G OVE R N M E N TA L ST RU C T U R E (Amendment 10): It would require all charter-county governments to have elected constitutional officers, including sheriffs. It would lead to the Legislature beginning its annual session in January in

Omega member One of the men arrested is Rashon Nelson, a 2017 graduate of Bloomsburg University and a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Antonio F. Knox Sr., the fraternity’s Grand Basileus (national president), issued a statement: “The times that we are living in continue to unveil the bold and dark side of racism through the lens of ready cameras of witnesses that record the injustices that are reported daily. The latest incident on the news around the world touched our Omega family as one of the young men arrested at the Starbucks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an Omega Man and remarkable example of resilient courage in the face of undeserved fire. I thank God for his sense of presence and calm because the encounter with police officers could have been very different.”

Manager departed The manager who called police has since left the store, and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson visited Philadelphia on Monday, apologized, and met with the two men, who were released due to a lack of evidence of a crime. The store manager involved has left Starbucks in what a com-

even-numbered years. It would create an Office of Domestic Security and Counterterrorism in the Department of Law Enforcement. It would revise the constitutional authority for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. • PROPERTY RIGHTS AND HIGHSPEED RAIL (Amendment 11): It would remove language that prohibits “aliens ineligible for citizenship” from owning property. It would remove obsolete language that authorizes a high-speed rail system. It would revise language to make clear that the repeal of a criminal statute does not affect the prosecution of any crime committed before the repeal. • ETHICS (Amendment 12): It would impose a six-year lobbying ban on former state elected officials, state agencies heads and local elected officials. It would also create a new ethics standard that would prohibit public officials from obtaining a “disproportionate benefit” from their actions while in office. • GREYHOUND RACING (Amendment 13): It would ban greyhound racing at Florida tracks after Dec. 31, 2020.

pany spokeswoman first described as a “mutual” decision. She later clarified that the manager left the store “while there is an internal review pending,” according to The Inquirer, though it is not clear whether the manager is still with the company. Starbucks did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

City responds The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is looking into reports of other incidents at same Starbucks. In a summary of the city’s response to the incident, Mayor Jim Kenney’s office said the commission would “review the firm’s policies, guidelines and procedures, including whether Starbucks has written policies, whether the policies are enforced uniformly, and how much discretion is left to individual employees.” The statement said the commission was looking into “additional reports that have come to their attention about this specific location.” It did not provide any details about the reports or the nature of the incidents involved.

‘Integral part’ Commissioner Richard Ross

said over the weekend that the officers had acted appropriately. The executive director of the Police Advisory Commission, a civilian oversight board, said the officers acted “in accordance with the law” and department policies, but he noted that “we cannot discount the likelihood that the race of these men played an integral part in the precipitation and overall outcome of this incident.” Starbucks said Tuesday it will provide nearly 175,000 employees with “racial-bias education geared toward preventing discrimination in our stores.” The company will close the more than 8,000 Starbucks locations it owns in the U.S. for the afternoon on May 29 to conduct the training “designed to address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome,” according to a Starbucks news release.

Benjamin Romano of the Seattle Times, and Chris Palmer and Joseph A. Gambardello of the Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) contributed to this report. Material from The Associated Press is also included.

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

FLORIDA

CARL JUSTE/MIAMI HERALD/TNS

Nery Lopez, a DACA recipient, right, carries the "Dream Key" as she leads supporters of Dreamers – made up immigrant youth, mothers and community members from United We Dream, We Belong Together, Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER), Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), We Count!, Women Working Together, Friends of Miami Dade Detainees, and Florida Student Power Network – to Sen. Marco Rubio's district office on Jan. 22 in Doral.

Panel rejects immigration verification proposal Voters won’t be asked to require businesses to use E-Verify BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

TALLAHASSEE – Florida businesses won’t have to worry about voters requiring them to verify the immigration status of new employees. The state Constitution Revision Commission on Monday rejected a proposal that would have asked voters in November to require businesses to use a system similar to the U.S. Department

of Homeland Security’s Employment Authorization Program, known as E-Verify, to determine immigration-related eligibility of employees. The proposal, rejected in a 2412 vote, drew heavy opposition from agriculture, tourism and construction interests.

Pros and cons Commissioner Chris Smith, a former state senator from Fort Lauderdale, pointed to other commission decisions Monday to add eight proposed constitutional amendments to the November ballot and said the employment-verification proposal

(Proposal 6010) could be handled instead by the Legislature. “I don’t really see the teeth enough that this should be another paragraph on the ballot,” Smith said. However, Commissioner Rich Newsome, who pushed for the verification system, said Monday the measure would solve a huge problem of undocumented workers “in a way that’s not callous.” “We don’t have to build a wall to help stop the problem of undocumented workers and of the nightmares that creates, not just for the workers, but the legal workers and the businesses that

are trying to follow the law,” Newsome said.

Newsome’s argument Newsome said the proposal would protect undocumented workers who do not have work or legal protections and would help legal workers who face “suppressed wages” because of undocumented immigrants who are willing to take less money. He also said the proposal “polls off the charts.” “This is going to fix something for the good of a lot of people on both sides of the legal line,” Newsome said. Newsome argued powerful special interests tied to agriculture and construction have kept the Legislature from advancing similar proposals in the past.

Issue for years The vote was applauded by the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Proposal 6010 would have

placed an ineffective federal government system into Florida’s foundational document,” Chamber Vice President of Governmental Affairs Frank Walker said in a statement after the vote. E-Verify has been an issue in Florida for more than a decade, drawing heightened attention as jobs grew scarce during the recession that started in 2007.

Scott’s order Seeking to crack down on the use of undocumented workers, Gov. Rick Scott called as part of his 2010 campaign platform for requiring all businesses in Florida to use E-Verify. After pushback from business groups supporting the agriculture industry, Scott eventually signed an executive order shortly after taking office in 2011 that required state agencies under his direction to verify the employment eligibility of all new employees by using E-Verify.

Greyhound racing ban going on November ballot If the measure is approved by voters, it would phase out dog racing in Florida by 2020.

After the vote, Cory said the proposal was advanced through “a misrepresentation of facts” and said it will “impact 3,000 jobs.”

Opposers’ stance

TALLAHASSEE – Florida voters will be asked this fall to ban greyhound racing, a staple for decades of the state’s gambling industry. After repeated and heavily lobbied legislative debates in recent years about the future of the greyhound industry, the Florida Constitution Revision Commission on Monday voted 27-10 to put the proposed ban on the November ballot. However, before the measure appears on the ballot, the industry plans to challenge the proposed constitutional amendment in court, said Jack Cory, a lobbyist for the Florida Greyhound Association.

Cory also disputed Bondi’s description of how dogs and treated and her claims that dogs would be adopted. “That’s why you don’t put stuff like this in the Constitution,” Cory added. “If you make a mistake and misrepresent the facts, you can come back and fix it. You can’t fix a constitutional amendment without extraordinary measures.” Commissioner Chris Smith, a former state senator from Fort Lauderdale who voted against the proposal, argued the measure should remain an issue for the Legislature, equating the proposal to a 2002 amendment that put the treatment of pregnant pigs into the Constitution. “We’re adding more and more and more things to this ballot and at some point, we’ve got to say we have a Legislature for a reason,” Smith said.

Called ‘black eye’

12 in Florida

Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has made dog-adoption efforts part of the opening of each state Cabinet meeting, called greyhound racing and the treatment of the dogs a “black eye on our state.” “We all know these dogs end up with broken legs, serious injuries and they’re shipped from track to track until they’re dead or can no longer race at all,” said Bondi, who is a member of the Constitution Revision Commission.

The 37-member commission approved a series of proposed amendments Monday that will go on the Nov. 6 ballot. The measures will need approval from 60 percent of voters to pass. If the greyhound-racing proposal is approved, the measure would phase out racing by 2020. Bondi noted that of the 18 greyhound tracks in the nation, 12 are in Florida. The measure would allow people to continue to bet at pari-mu-

BY JIM TURNER THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

JULIE FLETCHER/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TNS

Angelic Virtue, a dog held in the staging kennel, looks out her kennel behind the Melbourne Greyhound track in Melbourne some years ago. tuel facilities on greyhound races simulcast from other states.

Job losses cited State Sen. Tom Lee, a Thonotosassa Republican who sponsored the proposal, said allowing betting on races from elsewhere was needed for the measure to advance. “If you eliminate the simulcasting ability, you impair the revenue stream for these organizations, it creates an economic hardship for them, and the house of cards comes down,” Lee said. During past legislative debates about curbing greyhound rac-

ing, representatives of breeders and owners have argued, in part, that such moves would lead to job losses.

Joyner responds Commissioner Arthenia Joyner, a former state senator from Tampa who also voted against the proposal, said more effort is needed from state lawmakers to ensure people don’t lose their ability to make a living. “I don’t want to deny or take away a person’s right to earn a living, when there is a solution, short of putting it in the Constitution,” Joyner said.

However, Commissioner Don Gaetz, said the problem is that state lawmakers have been unable to act on various issues about greyhound racing. “We’ve tried to get bills passed on injury reporting. We’ve tried to get bills passed on doping,” said Gaetz, a former state Senate president from Niceville. “And every time we have, there are fine and good people in this industry, but the mass of the industry has come forward with their lobbyists to do everything they could to stop them from reforming themselves and the stop the reasonable regulation of the industry.”

EDITORIAL

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

Gun debate must include police militarization, anti-drug violence On March 14, thousands of students walked out of school to protest gun violence, demanding legislators enact more stringent gun control in the U.S. Later that night in Rio de Janeiro, Marielle Franco, a Brazilian city council member and a vocal critic of Brazil’s militarized law enforcement, was assassinated. Four days later, 22-year-old Stephon Clark was shot and killed by the Sacramento police. While news outlets and social media made note of these murders, the national conversation instead largely focused on the March for Our Lives protest that took place the following weekend. As the media continued to cover the responses to the March for Our Lives, news broke that the two officers responsible for the murder of Alton Sterling would not be facing charges for their use of lethal force that left yet another Black father dead.

Not much said In the span of two weeks, the country was engrossed in the discussion of gun control and gun violence, yet there was very little discussion of the main victims of gun violence: people of color. Those communities, primarily Black and Latino, face increased gun violence at the hands of both community members and the police ostensibly charged with protecting them. While these communities were addressed by some of the courageous students at March for Our Lives, the solutions presented – stricter background checks and weapons bans – are ultimately ineffective for these vulnerable communities, as they only address a small percentage of the victims of gun violence. A more complete attempt at a solution must address the war on drugs, its role in militarizing the police and the effect it has had on

MORGAN HUMPHREY GUEST COMMENTARY

For Black and Latino people, every day is a struggle to prove their own humanity, as victims of community gun violence and as victims of statesanctioned murder, both of which are permitted and committed by the war on drugs. communities of color. Consider historical precedent. During Prohibition, the supply of alcohol was illegal, yet demand remained, causing the rise of an illicit market. Given the illegality of that market, ensuring some sense of justice fell to individuals rather than police and rule of law. As a result, the country witnessed an increase in organized crime, violence and murder – all directly stemming from the prohibition of alcohol, which effectively decreased with the 21st Amendment.

Same path, worse consequences The war on drugs has had the

Syria – Bombs away and ‘Mission Accomplished’ In an April 11, 2018 column entitled, “Trump, May, Macron: Don’t Bomb Syria. Withdraw World Cup from Russia,” I wrote this: Trump’s egomaniacal stunts are such that he will probably order bombs to begin landing on Syria this Sunday night. Because that’s when ABC News has scheduled what all of Washington anticipates will be a blockbuster interview with former FBI director James Comey about his dealings with “Mafia Don” Trump. That interview will be based on Comey’s damning tell-all, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership. But Trump knows all too well that Comey’s bombshell revelations would prove no match for his “nice, smart bombs” exploding in Syria. And he’d be right; the media would focus on the latter like moths to flames. To be fair, though, bombshell revelations about Trump and his presidency are as predictable at this point as salacious details about Stormy and her porno films.

Told you so As it happens, the media spent much of last week gobbling up advanced excerpts of Comey’s book, preempting Comey’s interview last Sunday. Therefore, I hope I’ll be forgiven for assert-

ANTHONY L. HALL, ESQ.

same path with the same results, but with more dire consequences. We have seen decades of remarkable gun violence in Miami, LA, Chicago and even internationally, all in the name of the illicit drug market. The current response by the powers that be to this violence, faced largely by Black and Brown people, benefits neither from learning from history or understanding community need. Instead of calling for an end to this failed drug war – the main driver of gun violence – or reevaluating the legal status of drugs in our society, our government has responded through the militarization of law enforcement. First, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 authorized the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, providing a monetary incentive for anti-drug policing. Then, the National Defense Authorization Act of 1990 authorized the Department of Defense to transfer military equipment to law enforcement agencies, for use in socalled “counterdrug activities.” This was further catalyzed by Bill Clinton’s creation of the Department of Defense Excess Property Program (1033 Program), which further armed law enforcement with surplus military equipment. For decades, law enforcement has been affected by this feedback loop, making drug policing both the rationale for and result of more militarization of our local police departments.

Soldiers in combat zones Providing local police departments with military-grade weapons and equipment in order to fight the drug war has resulted in police who look like soldiers patrolling communities that feel like combat zones. Furthermore, in spite of the reality of nearly uniform rates of

drug use and sales across racial lines, Black and Latino communities are policed for drug activity at a disproportionately higher rate compared to their degree of engagement in drug activities. It then comes as no surprise that Black and Latino individuals suffer higher rates of gun violence at the hands of the police without any justice. In this drug war, the propaganda motivating the police soldiers features enemies painted as Black and Brown.

Wartime tool During wartime, propaganda is an effective, arguably essential, tool, particularly wielded by the media. In the case of the war on drugs, the media’s stigmatization and dehumanization of Black and Brown people have had the strongest effect on the war. For decades, the media has focused on Black and Latino communities when warning of the horrors of drugs. Drug use became a racial issue, with people of color being labeled crackheads, thugs and drug dealers. This has not changed, even in the wake of the “gentler” drug war. Thanks to centuries of racism and slavery, in conjunction with decades of racist drug war rhetoric, people of color are deemed criminals first, people second. The same cannot be said for White offenders.

If Assad were still

No real damage

Trump responsible for

ing that this media frenzy explains Trump ordering strikes last Friday. And, sure enough, the media turned on a dime from Comey to Syria just as I predicted, and just as Trump hoped they would. But I’ve made clear it why this is just another tragic launch of folly which I’ve decried in related commentaries as an exercise in feckless masturbatory violence. Indeed, it will do no more to improve the lives of Syrians than 15 years of war did to improve that of Iraqis.

‘Mission Accomplished!’

Putin backs down

Then on Monday, the “peebrained” president of the United States greeted the world this morning with this tweet, which is as heartless as it is clueless: A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for the wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!

RJ MATSON, CQ ROLL CALL

Of course, the only mission Trump accomplished was to waste billions of taxpayer dollars just to turn a few empty buildings into rubble in a war-ravaged country that was already mostly rubble. Thanks to Trump’s warning, Syrian rule Bashar al-Assad had nearly a week to move assets to safe harbor, and reports are that Russia and Iran helped him do just that.

Trump did not destroy any of the aircrafts Assad uses to launch chemical weapons; he did not kill any of the fighters Assad uses to politically cleanse opposition forces; and he did not destroy any of the stations Assad uses to transmit propaganda. In fact, Trump did absolutely nothing to prevent Assad from gassing his own people again today. This is self-evident because, if Assad were still storing chemical weapons in any of the buildings targeted, blowing them up would have made Trump responsible for a human catastrophe far worse than the one he was purportedly avenging.

FLORIDA COURIER COLUMNIST

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: HILLARY WATCHES COMEY AND TRUMP

The only newsworthy thing about this “perfectly executed strike” is the way it exposed Vladimir Putin as an even bigger blustering fool than Trump. After all, Putin warned that he would not only shoot every missile out of the sky, but destroy the ships and aircrafts that launched them to boot. Yet reports are that he did not fire a single shot in defense of his pup-

storing chemical weapons in any of the buildings targeted, blowing them up would have made a human catastrophe far worse than the one he was purportedly avenging. pet Assad. #COWARD! Given my allusions in related commentaries to President Georg W. Bush’s “shock and awe” disaster in Iraq, these latest developments compel me to rest my case. I’ll spare you my indignant venting on the perverse moral code that led to that misguided war in Iraq and that is now playing out in Syria.

Doesn’t make sense I just urge you to consider the manifest absurdity of Western leaders standing by as Assad kills hundreds of thousands with conventional weapons, but claiming a moral compulsion to intervene when he kills hundreds with chemical weapons.

Charles W. Cherry II, Esq., Publisher

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One dead, one jailed On Feb. 14, a former student went to his former high school in Parkland, Florida and carried out one of the deadliest school shootings, killing 17 people, most of them students. Little over a month later, Stephon Clark fit the description – young Black male – of a suspect accused of breaking car windows and was pursued on foot by two Sacramento police officers. Today, the Parkland shooter, having confessed to the shooting, is sitting in jail awaiting his day in court. He was safely apprehended and arrested by the police without the use of any force, while Stephon Clark is dead, a victim of immediate lethal force. We can hope for some justice in this case, but if history is of any indication, neither officer will see their own days in court. For Black and Latino people, every day is a struggle to prove their own humanity, as victims of community gun violence and as victims of state-sanctioned murder, both of which are permitted and committed by the war on drugs.

Morgan Humphrey is a policy coordinator based in Los Angeles office of the Drug Policy Alliance. Click on this commentary at www.flcourier.com to write your own response. I’ve been pleading for years for Western leaders to reconcile this moral inconsistency. That said, you should be wondering why nobody has heard a peep from the world’s secondmost powerful nation. Well, the following excerpt from a column I wrote on November 30, 2015 tells you everything about China’s conspicuous refusal to serve even as a peace broker, let alone participate in this escalating military conflagration: China has so cultivated its selfserving and self-preserving policy of non-interference, it would not lift a finger to stop ISIS from conquering every country in the Middle East, so long as ISIS did not impinge on its sovereignty and was willing to supply its demand for oil. In other words, if China (instead of the United States) were the only world power capable of stopping the Nazis during WWII, Hitler would have realized his dream of turning all of Europe into a fascist paradise (e.g., free of Jews, Blacks, and gays). This informs my abiding admonition about weak/poor countries, especially in Africa and the Caribbean, heralding China as a more worthy superpower patron than the United States.

Anthony L. Hall is a native of The Bahamas with an international law practice in Washington, D.C. Read his columns and daily weblog at www. theipinionsjournal.com. Click on this commentary at www. flcourier.com to write your own response.

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APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

Here’s what justice should looks like Yaser Murtaja was a Palestinian journalist acting in his professional capacity when he was murdered by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was covering the second Great Return March in Gaza and was clearly identified as press when an Israeli sniper fired a fatal shot. Yaser Murtaja’s death must be uppermost in our minds when the Syrian government is accused of deliberately murdering a journalist and is sued for $300 million in a United States court. Marie Colvin was covering the Syrian war in 2012 for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. She was killed when the Syrian army shelled the building where she and others were embedded with the Free Syrian Army, a group committed to regime change.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY BLACK AGENDA REPORT

with the seal of approval from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Despite the grandiose name, the SOHR is just one man living in the U.K. named Rami Abdel Rahman, a native Syrian who actually hasn’t been inside his homeland in 16 years. Last week, the SOHR reported chlorine gas attacks carried out against the civilian population by the Assad government. There is no evidence that the latest reported attack took place. These lies are tools for continuing this horrible conflict. The corporate media share in the culpability. There are many knowledgeable people whose expertise would call into question charges of gas attacks and assassinated reporters. But they are ‘disappeared’ from discourse, and casual followers of the news have no idea that they exist.

on the battlefield. The real issue is that Assad is still the president of Syria with the help of his Russian and Iranian allies. He has defeated the terrorists sent to unseat him and he and his allies are forces to be reckoned with. NATO governments know that their people will not support war against his country unless they believe that he is an evil dictator who gasses babies every day. His opponents are armed with money and contacts at the highest levels of the American and European governments. There is ‘Terrorist nation’ an entire media industry devoted The court filing claims that the to disparaging him and in so do- Won’t collect money The lawsuit in the Marie ColSyrian government tracked Col- ing making the case for continvin case is war propaganda. Her vin’s movement and assassinat- ued war. family will never collect from the ed her. Ordinarily foreign govSyrian government, but that isn’t ernments can’t be sued in United Al Qaeda creation States courts but as a designated The “White Helmets” are a fic- the point. Is it meant to create a “terrorist” state the rule does not tion, a creation of al Qaeda, an compliant population who will apply to Syria. organization we are otherwise believe anything they are told War propaganda is the order of told to hate and fear. Far from and not ask questions when the the day in the ongoing effort to being disinterested rescuers, the United States starts a hot war continue war in Syria. President White Helmets are part of the with Syria and its Russian and Bashar Assad has been accused terror network that has nearly Iranian allies. Who will file a lawsuit on beof carrying out chemical weap- destroyed Syria and killed thouons attacks against his people sands of people. They routinely half of Yaser Murtaja? He died ever since the American-backed stage footage of their rescues and covering protests that Palestineffort began in 2011. We are told of gas attacks, but only the leftist ians have a right to hold accordto believe that he would carry out media dare to point out that eas- ing to international law. But Israel doesn’t need to respect the law these attacks on the same day ily provable fact. that United Nations inspectors The White Helmets are not because of American financial arrive or whenever he is winning alone. Every anti-Assad lie comes and military support. If there was

NAACP abandons Blacks for illegal immigrants A caravan of an estimated 1,500 future illegal aliens from Central America is marching across Mexico on its way to sanctuary cities in the United States. You can bet that Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., the two Democratic U.S. senators from California – Diane Feinstein and Kamala Harris – Libby Schaaf, the Democratic mayor of Oakland, Democratic Party leaders in the Congress and progressives throughout the nation will welcome them with open arms. Included in this illegal alien cheering squad is the NAACP. It has forsaken its original Black constituency and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party and its open borders lobby, which welcomes the illegal immigrant invasion. The NAACP has filed a lawsuit against the federal government over its decision to include a question on citizenship in the 2020 Census form. It argues that the addition of a citizenship status question will lead to an undercount of minority and immigrant

CLARENCE V. MCKEE, ESQ. GUEST COMMENTARY

communities, and that it will misrepresent true U.S. population.

Ask the question As a Black American, I say “Yes” as to whether such a question should be included. April 4 marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Black Americans have paid in blood, and the nation fought a Civil War over their right to citizenship – something which was not gained until the adoption of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, and the 14th Amendment which guaranteed their citizenship. The 14th Amendment says, in part, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States . . . are

A scarred Winnie Mandela helped heal a nation Winnie Madikizela Mandela has been laid to rest and honored at a state funeral in South Africa. To many, she was loved as the “mother of the nation” even in her final days. When the roll is called of freedom fighters who changed the world and made it better, the name Winnie Mandela will rank near the top of the list. She was the fourth of eight children born to two teachers in what is now Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. Her Xhosa name was Nomzamo (“she who tries”).

Understood the pain Despite all the obstacles of apartheid, she graduated from college and moved to Johannesburg as the city’s first Black social worker. Her research on the high infant mortality rate in a Black township was central to her politicization. At the age of 22, she met and married a young lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela. They had two daughters to-

REV. JESSE L. JACKSON, SR. TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM

gether before he was sentenced to Robben Island, where he was kept for the next 27 years. Even before Mandela was locked away, she was active in the anti-apartheid movement and jailed while pregnant for two weeks for participating in a women’s protest against apartheid.

Mandela’s face, voice With Mandela in jail and other leaders exiled or jailed, Winnie Mandela became the public face and voice of the anti-apartheid movement. She had children to raise and a nation to help emancipate. Few outside South African knew much about the ANC or Nelson

citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Therefore, Black Americans should have no problem with any census question on citizenship. They should respond with a resounding “Yes,” meaning that “you are right I am an American citizen – my ancestors were brutalized and murdered for that right!” Note that the 14th Amendment also guarantees citizenship to naturalized persons. That means that legal immigrants are citizens and should also have no problem answering a question on citizenship – and should also be proud to do so. Unfortunately, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) feels otherwise. It is not alone. California has filed a similar lawsuit. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he will follow and initiate a multistate lawsuit; and, at least 10 other states have announced they would join his suit.

Why the concern? They fear that a citizenship question will deter illegal immigrants from participating and decrease the numbers used to determine congressional representation and how billions of federal dollars are allocated. As NAACP President Derrick

Mandela or Robben Island, where he was locked away out of sight. This is before cell phones, social media or cable networks. For 27 years, she was his voice, his social media, his Facebook, spreading the word, keeping the faith. She faced death threats, house arrest, torture, internal exile, banishment, isolation and government slander. She took the hits within and without. But she never bowed. She never surrendered. Upon her death, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa paid public tribute to her sacrifice and leadership: “For many years, she bore the brunt of the senseless brutality of the apartheid state with stoicism and fortitude. Despite the hardship, she faced she never doubted that the struggle for freedom and democracy would triumph and succeed.” I will never forget the Sunday morning when she left Robben Island with Nelson Mandela, even as he forgave the prison guards that had kept them apart.

‘Like a widow’ “The wife of a freedom fighter is often like a widow, even when her husband is not in prison,” Mandela wrote. And he added: “Winnie gave me cause for hope. I felt as though I had a new and sec-

EDITORIAL

VISUAL VIEWPOINT: THE COST OF HOUSING

PAT BAGLEY, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, UT

justice, both governments would be sued. Better yet, their leaders would be tried at the Hague as war criminals. The Israelis brag that they “know where every bullet lands.” This ghoulish statement is a confession that they knowingly shot and killed a member of the press corps. His family will have no right to sue that government or its patron the United States. There is no hand-wringing for Murtaja in the corporate media or from liberals who think themselves humanitarian. Marie Colvin was killed because she was covering a war zone and was embedded with a group devoted to Assad’s overthrow. Ms. Colvin had already lost the sight in one eye after covering another war in Sri Lanka. She knew the risks of her profession and continued to take them.

No comparison

Johnson said at a National Press Club press conference in Washington, D.C., “We know…that the undercounted African-American Latino community has been a persistent problem across the country.” Since when has the mandate of the NAACP been expanded to represent the Latinos? Isn’t that what Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organizations are charged with doing? When was the last time any Hispanic advocacy group, or for that matter, any liberal White group – or even the NAACP – demanded intervention from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to address the ongoing slaughter of Black youths in Chicago, South Florida, Baltimore, and other cities? This entire crusade against inclusion of a question on citizenship is merely an attempt to protect illegal immigrants and make sure that sanctuary and other cities with large numbers of illegals, including criminals, do not lose federal funds or congressional representation.

NAACP assisting those working to make sure that as many illegal immigrants, including criminals, get into our country as possible. The result: they take low-skilled jobs; burden taxpayers with increased education and healthcare costs; and will be recruited to become Democratic voters by fraud or any other means. When was the last time a mayor warned their Black communities when feds were going to conduct operations against criminals in the Black community, as the mayor of Oakland is doing to protect illegal immigrant criminals in her city? Wake up, Black America! You are no longer the favored minority. Democrats and the NAACP are telling you to “move to the back of the political bus,” which now only stops for illegal aliens. Does anyone think that Democratic leaders would be as protective of illegal aliens and the criminals among them if they were from Haiti or Africa? Don’t bet on it.

Harm to Blacks

Clarence V. McKee is a government, political and media relations consultant and president of McKee Communications, Inc., as well as a Newsmax.com contributor. This article originally appeared on Newsmax.com.

As I have written before, Blacks and legal Hispanic immigrants are economically harmed by illegal immigration and open borders policies. At a time when Black unemployment rates are at historic lows, here comes the

ond chance at life. My love for her gave me the added strength for the struggles that lay ahead.” Winnie Mandela was always admired and loved by the people she helped to free. She served in parliament from 1994 to 2003, on the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress and was the head of its Women’s League. Winnie and I talked for many hours about liberation and life, hopes and dreams in South Africa, Europe and the United States. One of the last times I saw her was in Selma, Ala. She had traveled to that small historic city to join in honoring the struggle against apartheid in America. The punishment she suffered took a brutal toll physically and psychologically. She and Mandela divorced a few years after his release, and as she later regretted, in the midst of the struggle, “things went terribly wrong.” In 2003, after being convicted for her misdeeds, she resigned from the parliament and the ANC Executive Committee. Her political career seemed finished. But she internalized her pain, paid for her mistakes and kept moving forward. She was knocked down, but she always got up. She knew the ground is no place for a champion. The love and respect of her

There is no comparison between her death and Murtaja, a man who was trapped in Gaza with 2 million other people and who devoted himself to chronicling their oppression. Some victims are considered worthy and others are thought to be unworthy. Some are ignored; others are elevated. Of course, no one would have died in Syria if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton hadn’t joined with NATO and monarchy states to destroy another nation after their gruesome success in Libya. Perhaps the next lawsuit should target them and their cronies. That would be true justice.

Margaret Kimberley is a cofounder of BlackAgendaReport.com and writes a weekly column there. Contact her at Margaret.Kimberley@BlackAgendaReport.com.

people never left her. In 2009, the ANC, which had condemned her earlier misdeeds, listed her near the top of their election list, a true testament to her enduring popularity.

Courage, sacrifice South African apartheid was a remorseless system of repression, as a small White minority brutalized an African majority. Standing up to that system took immense courage and required great sacrifice. By her stripes, many are healed and apartheid is behind us. She lived the first 50 years of her life under a violent racial apartheid system and now she goes on to live in eternal peace. Now she stands with the righteous judge of all nations and all people. For years, Nelson Mandela and the ANC were labeled terrorists by an American government that saw the apartheid government as its ally. Against those odds, Winnie Mandela stood tall. She fought for freedom and demanded respect. I am proud to join with millions across the world in paying her that respect.

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. is president and CEO of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

TOJ A6

NATION

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

Rarely prosecuted officers move on After shootings, many cops are fired, find other policing jobs BY JAWEED KALEEM LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A police officer shoots and kills a Black man who probably never posed a threat. If prosecutors file charges, the cop goes on trial but is set free because a jury fails to reach a verdict or decides that the officer had reasonable — though mistaken — fear and was acting in self-defense. That leaves the police department to decide whether to continue to employ the officer. As more high-profile shooting investigations come to a close, a pattern has emerged: Departments are firing the officers or forcing their resignations. Even so, some officers win appeals or get policing jobs elsewhere.

Louisiana case The most recent example is the firing of Blane Salamoni, the White officer who shot Alton Sterling — who was 37 and Black — six times outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 5, 2016. Salamoni was responding to a 911 call about a man making threats. Sterling was known for hawking CDs outside the store. The killing ignited protests and debates across the country over race and policing. Bystander videos showed cops scuffling with Sterling but not whether Sterling had a gun or made a threat. At one point, an officer screams, “Gun! He’s got a gun!” before shots are heard from Salamoni’s gun.

Officer fired The U.S. Department of Justice agreed that Sterling had a gun and declined to prosecute the 30-year-old officer. Then late last month, the state of Louisiana said that it too had decided not to press charges. But days later, the Baton Rouge Police Department fired Salamoni for violating department command-of-temper and useof-force policies. The officer has filed an appeal against the firing to the Municipal Fire and Police Civil Service board. While the legal bar to prosecute officers for shootings remains high, experts say public pressure and protests have left police chiefs with little room but to get rid of officers who could be seen as liabilities. Some of those officers win appeals, while others get jobs policing elsewhere.

A liability Many never return to law enforcement. “It boils down to how the public sees the issue,” said Justin Bamberg, a South Carolinabased attorney who has repre-

MARK BOSTER/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

A pedestrian walks past a mural and a memorial wall for Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La., on July 18, 2016. The Department of Justice, did not bring federal civil rights charges against two police officers involved in Sterling’s death. sented the families of Sterling and several other men who have died in high-profile police shootings. “How vocal is the public and whose side are they for?” Bambeg said. “Even if we know an officer is cleared criminally, which is the majority of the time, it’s hard for an officer to keep serving in a community.” Police chiefs also have to consider other issues, said Delores Jones-Brown, a professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Insurance carriers have been dropping police departments because they have cops on the roster who are involved in shootings and are now liabilities,” she said. “If they can find a justifiable way to remove an officer, police chiefs will.” Here’s a sampling of what’s happened to officers who have killed and were never convicted:

Betty Shelby Protests erupted in September 2016 after video was released of Officer Betty Shelby pulling over Tulsa resident Terence Crutcher and shooting him after he got out of his car. Shelby, who is White, said Crutcher, who was Black, was not obeying her commands and that she felt he was a threat to her life. Crutcher was unarmed. Shelby was placed on leave until last May, when a jury acquitted her of manslaughter. Shortly thereafter, the Tulsa police chief

said Shelby would return to the force but would be assigned to a desk job.

Another job Civil rights groups demanded Shelby be fired or resign. In July, Shelby relented and quit. “Since being reinstated, I have found that sitting behind a desk, isolated from all my fellow officers and the citizens of Tulsa, is just not for me,” she said in a statement from her union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93. The next month, she was hired by the Sheriff’s Office in neighboring Rogers County.

Jeronimo Yanez In July 2016, Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot 32-year-old Philando Castile in what began as traffic stop in the St. Paul, Minnesota, suburb of Falcon Heights. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, was in the car with her daughter and broadcast the shooting live on Facebook. Yanez, who is Latino, shot and killed Castile, who was Black. He says he thought Castile was reaching for a gun. Reynolds said that as her boyfriend was reaching for his identification he told the officer he had a gun and was licensed to carry it.

$48,000 buyout Last July, a jury found 28-yearold Yanez not guilty in the shooting death. The city of St. Anthony, which had employed him as

an officer and contracted his services to Falcon Heights, offered him a $48,000 buyout. “The City of St. Anthony has concluded that the public will be best served if Officer Yanez is no longer a police officer in our city,” city officials said in a statement. “The city intends to offer Officer Yanez a voluntary separation agreement to help him transition to another career other than being a St. Anthony officer.”

Timothy Loehmann Loehmann responded to a 911 call in November 2014 about a “guy with a pistol” who was “pointing it at everybody” outside a Cleveland recreation center. The person in question was 12-year-old Tamir Rice and the gun was fake, a detail that was reported to the 911 dispatcher but not relayed to police. As Loehmann and his partner arrived on the scene in a police car, Tamir walked out of a gazebo and the 26-year-old officer got out of the car, then shot and killed the boy within seconds.

Lied on application The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said in 2015 that Loehmann and his partner would not face criminal charges. But a separate Cleveland Department of Public Safety investigation found that Loehmann had lied on his job application to join the department and omitted information about an “emotional breakdown” he had suffered

Help for ‘Dreamers’ stalls in Congress Republicans claim they have the votes to help, but won’t commit to forcing action BY KATE IRBY MCCLATCHY WASHINGTON BUREAU/ TNS

WASHINGTON – Rep. Jeff Denham wants you to know he has the majority of the House’s support for bringing immigration legislation to the floor and helping young immigrants known as “Dreamers.” But despite talking for a month about prospects for his plan to bypass leadership’s stonewalling, the California Republican refused Wednesday to say he would actually use that clout. Denham and other House members said Wednesday they have 237 members supporting a procedure to force bringing four immigration bills to the floor without the approval of committees or leadership. That’s enough votes to bypass leadership, if

But Denham and the others repeatedly refused to say if they would actually translate their words into action. They said they were “considering options” and that for now they just wanted to “show how many Democrats and

Tensing was an officer at the University of Cincinnati in July 2015 when he shot and killed 43-year-old Samuel DuBose. In body-camera video, Tensing asked DuBose, who was Black, for his driver’s license during a traffic stop but DuBose didn’t produce it. The officer, who is White, asked DuBose to unbuckle his seat belt, and Tensing pulled on the door handle. DuBose, whose window was down, put his hand on the door to keep it closed.

Back pay, benefits Tensing then fired at DuBose. Tensing, who was 25 at the time of the shooting, was later fired but challenged the dismissal. He was charged in the shooting and his first trial ended in a mistrial in November 2016. Last June, a second trial ended the same way. Last month, Tensing came to a $350,000 settlement. He agreed to accept back pay, benefits and money for legal fees in exchange for resigning and not suing the university.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, RWis., has refused to grant a floor vote on immigration legislation that includes action on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, often referred to as Dreamers. DACA is an Obama-era program that allows people who entered the country illegally as minors to remain, work and study in the country legally. Two of the bills — the DREAM Act and the USA Act — have been backed by both Democrats and Republicans.

The breakdown

‘Considering options’

Ray Tensing

Obama-era program

those members chose to act. Denham would not say if those 237 members had agreed to actually go around leadership and move legislation to the floor, and his office did not respond to a request for a list of the members. Denham only said his list includes about 190 Democrats and as many as 50 Republicans. The House has 237 Republicans and 193 Democrats. Denham and the other Republicans touting his plan to move the legislation quickly to the floor are all regarded as among the most vulnerable GOP House members this year. Each represents a congressional district won in 2016 by Democrat Hillary Clinton, and each district has a sizable Latino population.

while taking a state qualification course. The investigation also found that Loehmann had a reported ‘inability to emotionally function” and had been rejected by other police departments. Loehmann was fired in May for misrepresenting himself on his job application.

Path to citizenship MIQUEL JUAREZ LUGO/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Immigration activists demonstrate outside the Capitol on Feb. 7 in Washington D.C. as the Senate agreed to a deal to avoid a shutdown that did not include provisions for so-called Dreamers sought by Democrats. Republicans would sign on.” “When you can show the overwhelming majority of the House is in support, you don’t need a discharge petition,” Denham said, referring to the part of the procedure that would actually force legislation to the floor without leadership approval. “It’s something we would talk about in the future, depending on how long this goes.”

Latino districts He and other members at the

news conference, including Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas; David Valadao, R-Calif.; Mike Coffman, R-Colo.; Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.; and Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M.; demurred repeatedly when asked what sort of deadline they were putting on leadership. Denham’s district is 45 percent Latino, Valadao’s is 76 percent Latino, Hurd’s is 72 percent Latino, Coffman’s is 22 percent Latino, Aguilar’s is 54 percent Latino and Lujan Grisham’s is 49 percent Latino.

The USA Act provides a path to legal citizenship for DACA recipients while also providing more for immigration enforcement. The DREAM Act provides a path to legal citizenship without increased immigration enforcement. A third bill, Securing America’s Future Act, has no Democratic co-sponsors and includes border wall funding, significant cuts to paths to legal immigration and no pathway to permanent citizenship for DACA recipients. The fourth bill is unnamed, left up to Ryan to choose among other immigration legislation. Under House rules, whichever bill wins a majority and receives the highest number of votes in the package would be considered passed and would move to the Senate.

IFE/FAITH Entrepreneur’s ingenuity helps amputees See page B3

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

SHARING BLACK LIFE, STATEWIDE

Patton has major stake in ‘Traffik’ See page B5

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Liberian refugee Rose Knuckles Bull, 67, has been living and working in the United States since 1999, when she left her country due to the war.

deportation Liberians face hard choices as US legal status expires BY NINA AGRAWAL LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

NEW YORK – At 67, Rose Knuckles Bull has had enough. The former government administrator and Liberian refugee says she put in her time working, paid her taxes and now just wants to go home. Bit by bit, she is packing her things and saving up for a container to ship everything back to Careysburg. That’s not an option for Prince. The 52-year-old has a teenage daughter in school here and nothing to return to in Unification Town. As for 50-year-old Alexander Morris? The clergyman from Monrovia is leaving his fate to God.

Protected status gone Across America, time is running out for thousands of Liberians who came here in the face of a grinding civil war, staggering poverty and disease. Some have already lost their legal right to be here. For others, their protected status will expire in less than a year. But for all, there’s an inescapable reality — those who have made a life in the U.S. now must decide whether to return to a country they haven’t known for years, or stay put and live life on the margins, risking deportation. In the larger picture, the Liberians are just the front edge of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from other countries who soon could face the same fate. Temporary protected status, or TPS, the legal designation that allows immigrants from countries affected by war or natural disaster to work and live in the U.S., expired for Liberian immigrants last May.

PHOTOS BY CAROLYN COLE/LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

Liberians gather and worship at the Christ Assembly Lutheran Church on Hudson Street in Staten Island. Around 8,000 Liberians have settled in the Park Hill /Clifton neighborhood of Staten Island, making it one of the largest Liberian population of any city outside Africa. Rubber Co. began operating in Liberia under a 99-year, 1 million-acre land concession that expanded U.S. influence. Firestone supplied rubber for the Allied powers during World War II and later cooperated with warlord Charles Taylor during the civil war of the 1990s.

War, Ebola The Liberian migration to the U.S. began with the civil war, which dragged on for 14 years and killed more than 200,000 people, and flared again with the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Some who fled were admitted and settled in the U.S. as refugees. Others received temporary protected status, first designated in 1991 and later renewed and redesignated several times.

‘Wind down’ time Another form of discretionary relief known as deferred enforced departure, offered to Liberians who arrived in the 1990s and early 2000s, was set to run out last month but President Donald Trump gave those Liberians one final year to “wind down” their lives in America. Some hold out hope that Congress will intervene before time runs out. The Census Bureau estimates there are about 90,000 Liberians in the U.S., many of whom are concentrated in the Northeast and East Coast.

Peaceful community On Staten Island, New York City’s smallest and whitest borough — and the only one that voted for Trump — Liberians are clustered in a few brick apartment buildings along Park Hill Avenue. The area, next to the island’s northeastern shore, was once plagued by violent crime and drugs, but is today a mostly peaceful, tight-knit community shared with immigrants from other West African nations. “Liberians on Staten Island are at the front lines of the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants,” said Javier Valdes, co-executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York. “This community is … experiencing the pain that will strike roughly 300,000 TPS holders from other countries very soon

Liberian refugee Alexander Morris, age 50, is a clergyman from Monrovia and is leaving his fate to God. TPS (for Liberians, Haitians and others) ran out in May 2017. if Congress fails to act.”

‘Executive mansion’ In one building full of Liberians, nicknamed the “executive mansion” after the presidential home in Liberia, an elderly woman cooks lunch each day for anyone who needs a meal. On Sunday mornings, women wearing tall head wraps and bright dresses with geometric prints fill the pews of evangelical churches. People take one another food from the local pantry. They don’t inquire about legal status.

Fled from war Bull arrived in the U.S. on a visitor’s visa in 1999. She had been in the country before, in the 1970s, when she studied sociology at Susquehanna University and earned a master’s degree in education at Howard University. Back in Liberia, she worked for the Ministry of Education and administered the government’s civil service exam. But

when the country devolved into civil war, she fled with her children, living as a refugee in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria. Shortly after Bull came to the U.S., President Bill Clinton granted Liberians a form of deportation relief and work authorization known as deferred enforced departure.

Worked, paid taxes Since then, Bull has lived and legally worked in New York through various renewals of that program and of TPS. She did temp work, worked as a substitute teacher and eventually got a full-time clerical job with the city. Through it all, she paid taxes and sent money back home to help put her four children through college. Two of them now live in the U.S. In 2013, Bull retired and began collecting Social Security, a benefit she is legally entitled to as long as her status doesn’t change. But when deferred enforced departure ends, so will her monthly payments.

Preparing to leave As the original March 31 expiration date loomed, Bull began preparing for her departure, slowly packing clothes, bedding and even furniture to take back home. She said she wants to return to Careysburg, about 20 miles northeast of Monrovia, the country’s capital, to see her 93-year-old mother and to help rebuild her country. She has plans to open a home for seniors. Mostly, though, she’s tired of trying to carve out a full life in America. “I have outgrown the stress of this,” Bull said. “I have never used my skills here. I just decided I would be more helpful to my people back home.”

History lesson Liberia and the U.S. have a long, intertwined history, going back to the early 1800s, when Liberia was settled by freed American slaves. The country became independent in 1847. In 1926, Firestone Tire and

Return to what? Returning to Liberia is out of the question for some. Still recovering from the legacy of conflict and Ebola, the country has a weak economy, poor infrastructure and limited health care. “For the most part if it were feasible for people to return, people would have returned,” said Amaha Kassa, executive director of African Communities Together, a New York-based nonprofit that supports African immigrants. “People are saying, ‘Unless I’m deported, I’m going to remain as long as I’m able.’”

Fear of deportation Kassa is working with other advocates and policymakers to ensure that Liberians are included in any immigration deal Congress considers. Critics of TPS say the program was always meant to provide only temporary emergency relief, not a long-term path to residency. Critics of TPS say the program was always meant to provide only temporary emergency relief, not a long-term path to residency. See LIBERIANS, Page B2

“Liberians on Staten Island are at the front lines of the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants.” Javier Valdes,

Co-executive director of the immigrant advocacy group Make the Road New York

EVENTS & BOOKS

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

FLORIDA COMMUNITY CALENDAR

LAURYN HILL

Tickets are on sale now for the “Celebrating the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’’ tour. She’ll be in Tampa on July 29, Miami on July 31 and Jacksonville on Aug. 2. JEFF WHEELER/ MINNEAPOLIS START

Jacksonville: A Leaving a Legacy gala for Dr. Nathaniel Glover, retiring president of Edward Waters College, is 7 p.m. April 27 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverside. More info: 904-470-8004 or teresa. morgan@ewc.edu Tampa: The Black Business Bus Tour is set for 8 a.m. April 21. Lunch and networking will continue after the tour. RSVP and more details: candyloweteatime@hotmail. com or call 813-394-6363 West Palm Beach: A free African history forum is 3 p.m. April 21 at St. Paul AME Church, 3345 Haverhill Road. Topic: “Majestic West African Empires: Mali, Ghana, Songhay.’’ Miami: The Miami Downtown Jazz Festival is April 26-28. Performers include Arturo Sandoval, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Kurt Elling, Lizz Wright and Regina Carter. miamidowntownjazzfestival.org. Daytona Beach: Jo Koy takes The Peabody stage on April 21. The show is at 7 p.m.

T.I.

The Halftime Music Festival starts at 4 p.m. May 5 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Performers: Snoop Dogg, T.I., KaRol G. and Baby Rasta

Orlando: Catch George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic on May 4 at the House of Blues Orlando. Hollywood: Fifth Harmony will perform at the Hard Rock Event Center on May 11. Orlando: Always & Forever: An Evening of Luther Vandross starring Ruben Studdard is May 10 at Hard Rock Live Orlando.

FRED HAMMOND

The Festival of Praise presents “Texture of A Man on April 21 at the James. L. Knight Center in Miami featuring Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, Take 6 and James Fortune.

Miami: The Mays High School All Classes Reunion is June 14-17. Classmates can sign up to attend by calling 305-238-2604.

Book of essays deal with democracy in the age of Trump BY DR. GLENN C. ALTSCHULER SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA COURIER

In 1935, Sinclair Lewis responded to the Great Depression and the rise of fascism with a novel entitled “It Can’t Happen Here.’’ Lewis’ cautionary tale featured Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip, who ran for president of the United States against Franklin D. Roosevelt on a platform that promised a $5,000 stipend for every citizen and the return of law, order, and traditional values. Once in office, Windrip, like Adolf Hitler, imprisoned political opponents, journalists, and judges, and used Brownshirts to establish a totalitarian state. Following the election of Donald Trump in 2016, sales of Lewis’ novel surged.

Informative, provocative “Can It Happen Here?’’ consists of 17 essays by distinguished scholars, most of whom are law professors, about the current prospects of democracy in the United States. These days, the contributors note, democracy appears to

be receding around the world, amidst anger toward immigrants and globalization, hatred of politicians, mistrust of experts, and the pervasiveness of cynicism, conspiracy theories, and social media outrage machines. The book is informative, provocative, and, to put it mildly, timely.

Implications of ‘moment’ Sophisticated, yet accessible, concerned but not alarmist, and contemptuous of Trump, the essays address the historical and political context, and the legal and constitutional implications of the current “moment.” Several contributors “game out” the implications for authoritarianism of a series of small steps that weaken democratic institutions (by, for example, directly attacking or intimidating the press and/or reducing public support for judges and courts), and the deployment of “emergency powers” following, say, a massive terrorist attack.

Making their case

LIBERIANS from B1 But that’s precisely what Prince, who asked only to be identified by his first name for fear of being deported, is hoping for. He came to the U.S. in 2013 and was granted TPS in 2014.

Work, school, home He underwent back surgery for a ruptured disc and worries that he could not get adequate care in Liberia. His daughter is about to graduate from high school. “The situation back home is so bad … we can never go back,” Prince said. “If she goes she will not have the same opportunities.” Since losing their status last year, Prince and his daughter have continued to go about their lives. He works off the books as a private security guard and avoids going out in public. “Every day I think we could be picked up any time,” Prince said. “I don’t socialize. I work, I go home. I tell my daughter, ‘From school, come straight home. Don’t go nowhere.’”

In “Paradoxes of the Deep

State,” Jack Goldsmith, a professor at Harvard Law School, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Assistant Attorney General under President George W. Bush, concludes that leaks by government officials “constitute a subtle form of antidemocratic abuse” that should concern “even the most severe critics of President Trump.” In “How Democracies Perish,” Stephen Holmes, a professor at New York University School of Law,” lists factors that increase the likelihood of “it” happening here: the volatile preferences of the majority; incentives for political parties to overpromise: the evisceration of optimism about rising living standards; fading historical memories about the value of the welfare state; an obsession with the war on terror; the proliferation of partisan news outlets; low turnouts in elections; voters who vote their passions rather than their interests; antipathy to political party establishments; the tarnishing of the idea of accountability; the sullying of the concept of democracy itself; the growth of populist and xenophobic authoritarianism.

‘People are hiding’ As Prince spoke, standing near an empty lot where in warmer weather vendors sell dried fish and fufu at an outdoor market, the streets around him were empty. One man, an immigrant from Guinea whose temporary status also expired last year, sat in his car watching for police and immigration officers, ready to alert his neighbors and friends at the first sign. “People are hiding,” said Jennifer Gray-Brumskine, a community organizer with Make the Road New York who is Liberian and lives on Staten Island. “They’re always in a hurry, just going to work or going to the store and staying out of trouble.”

Helping others On Sundays, some churches provide van transportation and meals so people don’t have to walk to services or the grocery store and risk encountering a police officer. Morris is one of them. He came to the U.S. about six years ago to study with the Bethel Church. He worked two jobs — a park maintenance worker by day and a home health aide by night. On weekends he led prayer services, earning a stipend from church donations. Now that stipend is all Morris can

er for Trump voters. Moreover, some of their prescriptions – such as requiring reauthorization of the emergency powers of the president, by ever – higher supermajorities, every two months – do not seem practical.

Feldman’s conclusion

BOOK REVIEW Review of “Can It Happen Here? Authoritarianism in America.’’ Edited by Cass R. Sunstein. William Morrow. 481 pages. $17.99

Not all practical The contributors do not always agree with one another. They differ, for example, about whether economic distress or authoritarian predispositions (activated by the perception of a “normative threat” and a loss of confidence in social consensus, leaders and institutions) was the prime mov-

count on. He lost his jobs when TPS ended. “What I really miss is the people I worked with … work mates, patients. I miss the companionship and being able to help,” he said. Morris usually takes home about $500 a month from the church, just enough to pay rent on the basement apartment he hopes his wife and three children, who are still in Monrovia, may one day call home. He gets by doing odd jobs for other Liberians, helping someone move, for example, or cleaning an apartment. He refuses to go to the local food pantry — or go into hiding.

Praise and worship On a recent Sunday morning the gray-haired deacon, dressed in a collared shirt and neatly pressed slacks, paced back and forth at the front of the Bethel Worship Center, delivering rapid-fire prayers. During the service, a boisterous affair with loud music and dancing, he mingled with congregants in the aisle, shaking a saasaa for percussion and swaying his hips, his eyes closed. “You’ve just got to make yourself joyful,” Morris said. “Which one of us by worrying can add anything to our situation?”

Most important, the contributors present an array of examples of the “it” that have happened in the past – and that may or not happen here. And they differ significantly on the likelihood of an authoritarian future for the United States. That said, you get the sense that these lively and learned intellectuals agree with Noah Feldman, a professor at Harvard Law School. Even if the subject of this book “has a “modestly paranoid edge to it,” given the powerful ecosystem of the institutions of civil society in the United States, Feldman writes, a mild paranoia (along with vigilance, a commitment to preserve and nurture robust citizen engagement, and a willingness to resist, if necessary) may well be justified these days.

Dr. Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He wrote this review for the Florida Courier.

Notice of Community Meeting and Public Hearings for Green Reuse Area Designation Pursuant to Florida’s Brownfields Redevelopment Act Representatives for Suncrest Court Redevelopment, LLC, will hold a community meeting on April 25, 2018, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of affording interested parties the opportunity to provide comments and suggestions about the potential designation of property located at or near 1615 NW 23rd Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, Folio No. 4942-3219-0010, as a Green Reuse Area pursuant to Section 376.80(2) (c), Florida Statutes, of Florida’s Brownfield Redevelopment Act. The community meeting, to be held at the Robert P. Kelley Building, 500 West Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311, will also include a discussion of future development and rehabilitation activities planned for the site. Two public hearings, dates to be announced, will be held at Fort Lauderdale City Commission Chambers, located at 100 North Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301, for formal consideration of the designation request. For more information regarding the community meeting and/or the public hearings, including dates for the public hearings, or to provide comments and suggestions regarding designation, development, or rehabilitation at any time before or after the community meeting and/or public hearings, please contact Michael R. Goldstein, who can be reached by telephone at (305) 777-1682, U.S. Mail at The Goldstein Environmental Law Firm, P.A., 2100 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, Suite 710, Coral Gables, FL 33134, and/or email at mgoldstein@goldsteinenvlaw.com.

STOJ

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

TECHNOLOGY

Startup helps amputees design personalized prosthetic covers BY JONATHAN M. PITTS BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

BALTIMORE – Four years ago, Winston Frazer was a talented artistwithmoreintereststhanheknew what to do with. He had changed majors at the Maryland Institute College of Art from photography to painting and sculpture and back, always chasing the “next shining diamond.” He’d recently taken an interest in digital fabrication. It took traveling to a poor African countrytodiscoverhisrealpassion. Frazer was visiting Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea, when he met a numberofamputees—areflection, he said, of the country’s poor health care—andtooknotethatthesecourageouspeopleseemedtosufferembarrassmentovertheirappearance.

A personal touch Why not, he wondered, blend his abilities to help them? Frazer, now 25, is the founder and CEO of Danae Prosthetics, a startupcompanythatallowslower-limb amputees to take part in designing and creating covers for their own prosthetic devices. Danaeoffersanapp-and-desktop interfaceuserscanemploytoupload the shape and dimensions of their devices—andthenprovidewhatever design they choose, whether it’s a polka-dotpattern,photosoffriends and family or the logo of their favorite sports team.

Gaining traction Frazer and his team then translate that data into computerized blueprints—thetemplatesthatwill be used in fabricating the covers by way of 3-D printing. By personalizing the look of devices that too often have an unsightly“medical”appearance,Frazer said, users can normalize physicalconditionsthatotherwisemight leavethemfeelingalienatedoreven turn them into strengths. Thecompanyalsoreflectsanidea that has been gaining traction in the burgeoning startup universe: Art and technology can work together in developing ideas for businesses that can make money while serving the larger good.

Model for artists Stephanie Chin is the former di-

PHOTOS BY BARBARA HADDOCK TAYLOR/BALTIMORE SUN/TNS

Above is a prototype of a personalized prosthetic cover created by Baltimore startup Danae Prosthetics rector of a local business incubator and the assistant director of entrepreneurship at MICA, where Frazer earned a degree in painting in 2016. Chin was a member of the panel that presented Frazer with a $25,000 award in MICA’s highly competitive Up/Start Venture Competition last year — the money he used to found Danae. She views him as a model for some artists to follow in an increasingly technological age. “It’sinterestinghowhe’susinghis background as a painter and ended up doing 3-D prosthetic covers,” Chin said. “His story is a fascinating narrative about how artists are impacting our community. They don’t just follow the traditional path of going to school, becoming a painter, showing in galleries and having a fine-art practice. “Winston is a really interesting representation of the modern-day creative entrepreneur,” she said.

Busy operation One measure of his emerging success is that Frazer, a German-

Winston Frazer is the founder of Danae Inc., a company that allows lower leg amputees to create custom designs for their prosthetic covers. town native, is insanely busy. He runs his five-employee company from the sixth floor of the Wicomico Building, a former industrial warehouse in Pigtown that has been converted into an office building. Frazer sublets space from Harbor Designs and Manufacturing, a firm that works with innovative companies and individuals to develop new products.

Started early Frazier absorbed scientific vibes while growing up in Germantown —agreatuncleworkedonsatellites and an uncle ran his own engineering firm — but also found himself fascinatedwithphotography,drawing and painting. By the time he was ready for college, he’d done so much work in those areas — and found it so much fun — he figured he might as well apply to MICA. As he worked with students on their projects, Frazer fell in love with this way of merging the creative and the technological. “I thought, ‘this is cool, this is fun … I tried to learn as much as I could before I had to go home” at 2 in the morning,” he said. The trip to Sao Tome and Prin-

cipe with a MICA professor came about almost by accident — a junket to Korea had fallen through — but in hindsight it seems to have been the best outcome.

Global struggle Frazer contracted an intestinal illness during the trip and ended up in the hospital, where he met severalamputeesandlearnedtheir stories. He was impressed at their tenacity, he said, but touched by the way they felt ostracized in the island culture. He soon learned that amputees all over the world struggle withself-consciousnessalongwith their physical discomfort. He packaged his idea into a pitch for the inaugural Up/Start contest in 2016 and, having failed to make the final cut, repackaged it for the following year.

Set up office Frazer’s proposal for Danae — it’s named for the mother of Perseus in Greek mythology — was one of five that shared $100,000 in winnings provided by a grant from the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation. He used the grant to hire core employees, set up office space,

work on software and test materials.

$50,000 grant Whereas most prosthetic covers are made one at a time, Danae’s use of CAD, or computer-assisted design,automatestheprocess,freeing up more of Frazer’s time to work on new products. He traveled to Dubai in February to take part in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s pavilion at the Arab Health Expo, one of the world’slargestinternationalhealth care fairs. And Danae recently won a $50,000 grant from Conscious Venture Lab, a Baltimore business accelerator that backs “companies and leaders who embrace capitalism as a powerful catalyst for good in society.” Frazer is planning the soft launch of his product line in May, with prosthetic covers retailing at about $900 apiece. “What I’ve learned is that when creative and scientific approaches come together, you’re going to do better, more meaningful work,” Frazer said. “That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

How some tech companies are chipping away at bias against women BY RACHEL LERMAN SEATTLE TIMES/TNS

SEATTLE – Bridget Frey was the only woman on Redfin’s engineering team in Seattle when she joined the online real-estate company more than six years ago. She wasn’t surprised, having worked in the male-dominated tech field for much of her career. But Frey was determined it would be a short-lived imbalance. One of the reasons the tech field is so heavily male is that people tend to hire job candidates who remind them of themselves, feeling immediately most comfortable working with similar people, studies find. So Frey made it a mission to participate in many of Redfin’s interviews with potential hires, and she called several female candidates herself to recruit them to the company, reasoning that more women were likely to accept job offers if they knew they wouldn’t be the solitary woman on the team.

pany’s downtown Seattle headquarters.

Slower promotions Tech companies are notorious for the dearth of female employees in their ranks and for the treatment of those women — something that has been put in the spotlight in recent months with the gender-discrimination lawsuits against Microsoft, Google, Twitter, and Oracle. It’s one hurdle for women to get in the door in the industry, and another for them to advance within a company. At each higher level, there are fewer female employees, partly because they are promoted at slower rates than men. Other studies suggest they leave the male-dominated companies in droves. In Seattle, a few midsize tech companies — including Redfin, Zillow, Expedia, and Tableau — have had some success in changing the gender balance of their workforces, particularly in management and leadership roles.

Higher numbers

Testing solutions

Her attempts — together with multiple tactics the company has employed — are starting to work. Women now make up 31.7 percent of the company’s technical workforce, up from 12.5 percent when Frey joined in 2011. In Redfin’s upper ranks, the number is even higher: Women hold 46 percent of positions at the manager level and above. “Now I walk around, and it’s rare that I’m the only woman in a meeting,” she said in the com-

The not-so-secret secret, the companies say, is to treat diversity challenges much the same way as tech challenges: Test solutions, kill those that don’t work and implement those that do as companywide processes and systems. For Redfin, where Frey now serves as chief technology officer, that means a “bug tracker” for its diversity initiatives: a software system that allows anyone from the company to log on, check out

ERIKA SCHULTZ/SEATTLE TIMES/TNS

Bridget Frey of Redfin talks with Highline High School students on Feb. 13, including Haylee Beckham, left, and Sydney Cochran, college and career-access specialist at the high school, at an event encouraging girls to learn about tech careers in Seattle. top priority “bugs” — meaning anything that isn’t working at the company — and tackle a project. It’s the same kind of system that Redfin uses to solve technology issues. It’s a small effort to make all employees feel welcome at work, Frey said, but that welcoming attitude is a major factor in retaining women and minorities and advancing them into management positions.

Cause for concern Women, especially women in technical roles, tend to fall out of the ranks the higher up the corporate ladder you look. According to AnitaB.org — an organization for women in tech, formerly called the Anita Borg Institute — the average U.S. company’s technical workforce is 28.5 percent female at the entry level. That falls to just 19 percent at the

senior leadership level. “I don’t think there’s a company in the world that has no cause for concern,” said Joelle Emerson, CEO of San Francisco consulting firm Paradigm, which helps companies implement diversity and inclusion strategies. “The default is for organizations to not be inclusive and equitable because they are mirroring society. They have to be proactive.”

TRAVEL

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

STOJ

MAUREEN JENKINS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS

Its Spanish-inspired architecture on full display in Old Havana, streets like this reflect the city’s colonial roots.

Travel to Cuba

is getting popular again — just in time for a slew of new Havana flights BY CHABELI HERRERA MIAMI HERALD / TNS

More flights to Cuba are on the horizon. The U.S. Department of Transportation has tentatively award-

ed a slew of U.S.-Havana routes to five major airlines from several cities in the country. The proposed schedule is open for public comment and will likely be finalized later this month. The new flights were award-

ed after a number of carriers reduced service to the island last year. Initially, airlines clamored to get a slice of the DOT’s 20 available daily round-trip flights from the U.S., only to find weaker demand than expected, forcing

some to stop flying to certain cities on the island or cut Cuba service altogether. The new flights, which all service Havana instead of lesserknown Cuban cities, indicate demand may be creeping up again

for travel to Cuba, said Tom Popper, president of Insight Cuba, which has been leading U.S. tours on the island since 2000. “What is encouraging now is we are starting to see a healthy increase,” Popper said. “This came about probably mid-January, February, we started to see an increase in web traffic, an increase in leads or demands for information and increases in bookings.” Popper said a confluence of events last year affected demand for Cuba, including the announcement of a scale-back of some Obama-era regulations by President Donald Trump’s administration, alleged sonic attacks on U.S. diplomats in Cuba — which triggered a travel warning by the U.S. State Department — and Hurricane Irma’s passage. The new regulations from the Trump administration, which at first were presented as a full rollback of former President Barack Obama’s Cuba travel rules, particularly caused confusion among travelers, Popper said. In reality, although Trump’s regulations added some new restrictions, they didn’t materially alter the nature of travel to Cuba as outlined by the previous administration. American travelers who visit the island must still adhere to the 12 categories of approved travel to Cuba. Travel just for tourism is still prohibited, in addition to financial transactions with any in a list of 180 prohibited companies, hotels and stores controlled by the Cuban military. The new proposed flights include routes between Havana and Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boston and Houston. They represent the airlines’ first-ranked choices for service to Cuba, according to DOT. Objections to the DOT’s awards are due by April 16. Answers to objections are due April 23, before the department makes a final determination. The proposed flights are: • Once-daily flight on American Airlines from Miami. • Once daily flight on Delta Air Lines from Miami. • Once daily flight on Southwest Airlines from Fort Lauderdale. • Six-times-a-week flights, Sunday through Friday, on JetBlue Airways from Fort Lauderdale. • Six-times-a-week flights, Sunday through Friday, on United Airlines/Mesa Airlines from Houston. • One weekly flight, on Saturdays, on JetBlue Airways from Boston. The focus on Havana, Popper said, is due to how new Cuba is as a destination for American travelers. “For 99 percent of all Americans, it’s like the first time they are visiting Cuba,” Popper said. “It’s like the first time you’re visiting France: It’s unlikely you’re not visiting Paris.”

Carnival gives teen free cruise for his Snapchat handle BY CHABELI HERRERA MIAMI HERALD / TNS

Now here’s a business model, kids: When you sign up on a new social-media app, make sure your handle is the name of a well-established company. Play your cards right and you might get a Carnival cruise out of it. In 2012, Darian Lipscomb did just that. That year, popular social-media site Snapchat was still in its infancy, and Darian, who was a fan of Carnival Cruise Line voyages, signed up with the handle @CarnivalCruise. He was just 9 years old at the time. The appeal of Carnival was simple, Darian said in a video released by the cruise line: “I like their food and there’s a lot to do on the ship. At night time you can go and get ice cream.” Darian’s act of fanaticism got him the attention of Doralbased Carnival Cruise Line, which last month was hoping to use the handle in promotions for its new ship, Carnival Horizon, only to find the handle was already taken. So Carnival took its proposition to the now 16-year-old. According to the line, Carnival swept into Darian’s hometown of Prospect, Va. — population: about 2,000 — this week. It set up mobile billboards and signs across town featuring former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, who these days is Carnival’s “Chief Fun Officer,” with messages including: “@ CarnivalCruise … really wish we took that one, Darian.” One sign on a truck read, “Hey Prospect, do you know Darian?” Then late last month, Carnival surprised Darian at home, hoping to make the case for why the teenager, who has already sailed on four Carnival trips, should hand over his handle. Their offer: Darian, his mother, stepfather, and brother would be the first on the maiden voyage for the new Carnival Horizon, sailing out of Barcelona on Monday. The trip would include flights to Spain, leaving Saturday, hotels and some surprises along the way. Total cost? $5,000. Not bad for a Snapchat handle. Naturally, Darian’s journey will be documented via Carnival’s newly acquired Snapchat name. Darian, meanwhile, is in the market for a new handle. “I’ll have to think up another name,” he told The Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Maybe another company name.”

COURTESY CARNIVAL CRUISE LINE

Darian Lipscomb is surprised at his home in Prospect, Va., with an offer from Carnival Cruise Line in exchange for his Snapchat handle.

STOJ

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

FINEST & ENTERTAINMENT

Patton takes charge as producer and star of ‘Traffik’ “People don’t want to feel forced to do anything. And I don’t think we should force anyone. It’s about bringing the truth to the surface and making people aware. And then they can make their own minds up about what they feel or what they want to do about it.”

Intimate scenes Patton’s character, Brea, gets swept up in the world of trafficking while on a romantic getaway with her boyfriend, John, played by Omar Epps. The role required Patton to film several intimate scenes, something that no longer fazes the actress. “I’m fairly comfortable, to be honest with you,” Patton said of shooting the scenes. “I think as I’ve gotten older I care less what everyone thinks. I realize I’ve become … not an exhibitionist but a nudist. And I think that anybody that works around me knows that I’m naked a lot.”

Movie tone changes

SCOTT EVERETT WHITE/CODEBLACK FILMS

Paula Patton and Omar Epps star in the thriller “Traffik,’’ which focuses on sex trafficking. BY SONAIYA KELLEY LOS ANGELES TIMES/TNS

LOS ANGELES – In one haunting moment from Liongate’s thriller “Traffik,” a young woman is drugged and loaded into a waiting truck by sex traffickers after having spent much of the night running for her life. Nina Simone’s stirring “Strange Fruit” punctuates the scene, a touch that filmmaker Deon Taylor calls a “spiritual moment” intended to draw a parallel between trafficking and that other institution that commodifies people held against their will. “I had to put that in there because (trafficking) is the modern-day slavery,” Taylor said.

‘Microbudget’ film “Traffik,” which was “shot with a microbudget,” was produced in part by its star Paula Patton’s Third Eye Productions. “(Producing) is the only way to get the types of stories that I want to see made,” Patton recently said in Los Angeles. “You can’t sit there and hope — that’s infuriating and maddening. So you must create your own future.” After small roles in the Will Smith romcom “Hitch” and low-budget thriller “London,” Patton graduated to leading-lady status as Andre Benjamin’s love interest in the 2006 Outkast musical “Idlewild.” For the next few years she was one of Hollywood’s “It” girls,” costarring opposite Denzel Washington (“Deja Vu”), Kevin Costner (“Swing Vote”) and Kiefer Sutherland (“Mirrors”).

Other films A critically acclaimed turn in the Oscarnominated film “Precious” proved to be another breakthrough, and Patton went on to headline a pair of rare rom-coms marketed toward Black audiences (“Baggage Claim” and “Jumping the Broom”). She also landed in blockbuster titles both successful (2011’s “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”) and not (2016’s “Warcraft”). But nowadays, the 42-year-old actress says she’s interested only in roles that excite her. “At this time in my life I want to be moved. I want to be inspired, and I want to hopefully do work that moves people as well,” Patton said. “At the end of the day the weird thing about what we (actors) do is that it’s work and art. And to do both I feel like I have to love what I’m doing. I don’t want to just do it if it’s just work. Not anymore.”

Codeblack connection “Traffik” came to Patton through her friendship with Codeblack Films Chief Executive Jeff Clanagan, whose company partnered with Lionsgate in 2012 to release films targeted at African-American audiences. Codeblack’s most recent success was last summer’s Tupac Shakur biopic “All Eyez on Me.” “He said, ‘Paula, I really want you to meet this director, and he’s sent this script and I think it would be great for you,’” Patton said of Clanagan’s pitch. “We kind of had fun, creative conversations — Deon, Jeff and myself. When they wanted to go (into production) I was signed on to do another movie. And then at the last minute they lost the money … I was, like, ‘Jeff, I’m available.’ “It’s one of those weird sort of magical things: I said ‘I’ll do it’ and a week later I was in Sacramento prepping and five days later we were shooting the movie.”

40-percent Black The film, which Taylor wrote, directed and produced through his Hidden Empire Film Group, was shot in Northern California’s Placer County, where the director lives with his wife, Roxanne Avent, a producer on the film. The project was inspired by true events. “We started getting emails about kids being trafficked in our city and at the mall,” Taylor said over tea in downtown L.A. “I remember thinking, ‘Well, Black

people don’t get trafficked so we’re cool.’” “But actually, (40 percent of victims) that are trafficked are African American,” interjected Avent. “And as I realized just how dumb my thought was,” continued Taylor.

Top trafficking cities In his research, Taylor found that cities with large communities living below the poverty line (including Oakland, San Francisco, Baltimore, Watts and Chicago) were most vulnerable to trafficking, due in part to high rates of kids in foster care. “I started researching more and more, and that’s when I said, ‘Man, I want to do something around this,’” he said. Filming in Placer County occupied several locations where trafficking stings actually took place. While shooting at a gas station that figures heavily in the film, Taylor was approached by a police officer who’d helped take down traffickers not long before: 15 miles up the road in a residential community local police acquired a search warrant after noticing five or six girls leaving the same house every night at midnight and returning at 4 a.m.

Not another ‘Taken’ Upon raiding the house, the officers found 40 women and girls underground in a cave that was obscured by a carpet “like ‘Silence of the Lambs,’” Taylor said. Avent describes “Traffik” as a “love story turned into a thriller.” Its mix of social issues with pulpy genre elements recalls gritty films from the ‘70s — some might even describe it as a modern-day grind house movie. For his part, Taylor wanted to avoid falling into the trap of genre films that have no interest in grappling with the nightmarish reality of their subject matter. “I was really drawn to the challenge of trying to figure out how to put this type of backdrop into a thriller and not make it ‘Taken,’” Taylor said, citing the 2008 Liam Neeson hit.

Art and education Patton hoped to create a film that would be as entertaining as it was educational. “For it to be great entertainment (the issue) needs to be in the background,” she said. “I think that that’s when art can be its most impactful socially because then you can reach so many people.

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It was also important to both Patton and Taylor that although the film is about sex slavery, Brea should be a sexually confident woman to emphasize the distance between consensual and nonconsensual sex. “The scenes with her in the bed with Omar (Epps’ character) … what I’m demonstrating is how freely love comes when you’re in love,” Taylor explained. “How free sexuality is when you’re in love with your partner. There are no boundaries. And then when the movie flips and everything happens, that same touch is cold. That same environment is different. And the tone of the movie changes.”

Actor’s dream Patton, a graduate of USC’s film school, once dreamed of becoming a director, even making her own short films. “It’s something that’s close to my heart,” she said. “I like the idea of bringing people together and making great entertainment.” During a soul-searching attempt to write a screenplay, Patton realized she preferred to be on the other side of the camera. “I just had this moment where I was sitting at my desk and I realized what it was that I’d been wanting to do since I was a little girl — and that was act,” she said. These days Patton feels she’s found the perfect mix as both an actress and a producer. “I’m not in a mood to fight for things,” she said. “But I do feel like working hard to try to create projects I’m passionate about.”

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Thousands of Caribbean culture lovers converge on South Florida every year before and during the Columbus Day weekend to attend the annual Miami Broward Carnival, a series of concerts, pageants, parades, and competitions. On Carnival Day, “mas” (masquerade) bands of thousands of revelers dance and march behind 18-wheel tractor-trailer trucks with booming sound systems from morning until nightfall while competing for honors. Here are some of the “Finest” we’ve seen over the years. Click on www.flcourier to see hundreds of pictures from previous Carnivals. Go to www. miamibrowardcarnival. com for more information on Carnival events in South Florida. CHARLES W. CHERRY II / FLORIDA COURIER

FOOD

FROM FAMILY FEATURES

With so many social events that revolve around food, it’s not easy to get a fresh start on making healthy food choices. However, with a little thought and planning, you can prevent taking your body on a roller coaster ride – without having to choose between food deprivation and satisfaction. “Whether you are hosting an event or attending someone else’s celebration, planning ahead can help you stay on track,” said Mitzi Dulan, a registered dietitian and nationally recognized nutrition and wellness expert. “Having quick and simple strategies and recipes on hand makes it easy to eat well and keep you feeling great.” Put a winning plan in place to take a new look at your approach to eating smart with these tips from Dulan, who is the team nutritionist for the World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

Don’t skip meals Although skipping breakfast may seem like a good way to cut calories, it’s a plan that can actually backfire, making you hungrier as the day wears on, and more likely to overeat or sneak unhealthy snacks. Start each day with a well-rounded breakfast to fuel your body. Apply a similar approach to events later in the day, as well. You may be tempted to skip a meal so you can enjoy the treats at a party, but chances are you’ll end up overdoing it with high-calorie indulgences, so make sure you fuel up ahead of time.

Love what you eat Be mindful of the food you eat and make every bite count. Enjoying each delicious taste will make it easier to stick to a sensible eating plan. For the foods you do love, look for ways to make them better – better for you, that is. For example, if pizza is your weak spot, substitute a lower-

APRIL 20 – APRIL 26, 2018

THIN CRUST PEPPERONI PIZZA 1 Flatout Flatbread Artisan Thin Pizza Crust 1/4 cup chunky red sauce 3 slices provolone cheese 1/4 cup mozzarella, shredded 30 pepperoni mini slices Heat oven or grill to 375 F. Place flatbread on cookie sheet. Bake 2 minutes. Remove from oven. Spread sauce on flatbread. Lay provolone on top of sauce. Top with mozzarella and pepperoni. Return to oven and bake 4 more minutes, or until cheese melts. Grilling method: Heat grill to 375 F. Pre-bake flatbread on grill for 2 minutes. Remove from grill. Spread sauce on flatbread. Lay provolone on top of sauce. Top with mozzarella and pepperoni. Return flatbread to grill. Close lid. Grill for 4 minutes, or until cheese melts.

ARUGULA MUSHROOM FLATBREAD PIZZA 1 Flatout Flatbread 1/2 cup mushrooms, cooked 1/2 cup arugula 6 grape tomatoes 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated 1 1/2 teaspoons fat-free balsamic vinegar Heat grill or oven to 375 F. Pre-bake flatbread for 2 minutes. Remove. Warm mushrooms in microwave or pan. Top flatbread with arugula, tomatoes and mushrooms. Sprinkle with cheese and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Cut into slices.

BARBECUE CHICKEN FLATBREAD PIZZA Recipe created by Mitzi Dulan, RD non-stick baking spray 2 Flatout Flatbreads 1/2 cup barbecue sauce 1/3 cup cheddar cheese, shredded 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded 6 ounces grilled chicken breast, torn into pieces 1 tablespoon red onion, diced 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped Heat oven to 400 F. Spray large baking sheet with non-stick baking spray. Place flatbreads on baking sheet. On each flatbread, evenly spread 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce. Sprinkle both cheeses over flatbreads. Mix remaining barbecue sauce with grilled chicken and place on pizzas. Top with diced onion. Bake 5 minutes. Sprinkle cilantro on top and serve.

calorie crust, such as Flatout Flatbread. Then choose toppings wisely to amp up the flavor while managing added fat and calories.

Eat smaller portions When you simply must indulge, you may be surprised to hear “go ahead,” but to do so in moderation. One clever way to keep your portions small: use a tablespoon, not a serving spoon to dish out portions. Then eat slowly so your body has time to tell your brain you’re full.

Get your fill in healthy ways Overeating often comes down to a very basic cause: hunger. Becoming more conscious of how you answer your hunger will help you stay on track. Drinking water before and during events will help to fill you up so you are less likely to consume excess calories. Snacking throughout the day can also help keep hunger at bay; several small, healthy snacks, such as a handful of nuts or trail mix, can help keep you feeling full. Also, remember to stop eating when you feel satisfied, but before you feel full. To find a Flatout Flatbread retailer near you, visit FlatoutFinder.com.

THIN CRUST EGG, SAUSAGE AND PEPPER BREAKFAST PIZZA 1 Flatout Flatbread Artisan Thin Pizza Crust 1/2 cup cheddar cheese 2 eggs, lightly scrambled 3 ounces sausage, cooked and crumbled

This is Sunday Dinner. It’s when we all come together to enjoy really good food. And each other. Get recipes at publix.com/sunday-dinners.

2 ounces yellow peppers, diced 2ounces red peppers, diced Heat oven to 375 F. Place flatbread on cookie sheet. Bake for 2 minutes. Remove from oven. Top flatbread with cheese, scrambled egg, sausage and peppers. Return to oven and

bake 4 more minutes, or until cheese melts. Grilling method: Heat grill to 375 F. Pre-bake flatbread on grill for 1-2 minutes. Remove from grill. Top flatbread with cheese, scrambled egg, sausage and peppers. Return to grill. Close lid. Grill 4 more minutes, or until cheese melts.